Speaking of Extinction...

[morgandawn]

To illustrate the adage: "That which does not get copied becomes extinct" here is a page of an old Star Trek zine from 1969 that I am preserving. It is so fragile that I had to disassemble it  (gingerly) and I am scanning it page by page, by hand on a flatbed scanner. I will not be able to reassemble it because the paper is crumbling. What is left of the original will be sent to one of the fanzine archives. There are currently only two copies that I know of being preserved and one is a photocopy.



The zine.

Comments

[thirdblindmouse]

I'm way behind on commenting right now, but I just wanted to say I am a huge fan of the work you are doing to preserve this history. *_*

[morgandawn]

Thank you! Like the Fanlore volunteers, sometimes the only online feedback I get is negative and discouraging. I try to keep in mind that even though (some) fans objected to the idea of preserving the paper zines and/or (some) fans demanded permission from everyone involved in the zine before preserving, we've kept going.

Interestingly, of the over 200+ zine publishers, artists and writers I've contacted this past year on another zine preservation project, only 3 have opted out. And the response from family, friends and the fans themselves has been supportive and humbling. Sometimes I feel there is a huge disconnect between the fans I talk to directly about these preservation projects and those who shout about them online. While I feel increasingly alienated by (and from) Fandom, I still have fandom connections to keep me grounded. Like you. :-)